Hundreds protesting against Wendy’s march through Palm Beach

Sunday

After hundreds of protesters organized by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers marched through town, close to a dozen Palm Beach Police officers gathered a short distance away.

Traffic delays caused by the marchers moving along South County Road and Worth Avenue Saturday were minimal and emergency responders faced no major issues moving throughout the island. The officers discussed what they learned from the event.

"Obviously the safety of the public and the pedestrians was our primary concern, and I think we executed our plan pretty effectively," Capt. Curtis Krauel said.

» Photos: Farmworkers rally in Palm Beach

» Photos: Protesters cross bridge

Police said there were no arrests. Krauel said he spoke with coalition organizers and said they were happy with the event. "It worked out for both of us," he said.

The coalition is calling for a national boycott of Wendy’s because the fast-food chain has refused to sign on to its Fair Food Program. Palm Beach was the last stop on a national protest tour targeting municipalities with ties to Wendy’s or Nelson Peltz, chairman of the company’s board of directors.

On Worth Avenue, the island’s renowned shopping district, the protesters chanted loudly and marched on the sidewalk on the north side of the street. Coalition organizers made speeches through two 1,000-watt speakers mounted on a decorated flatbed truck.

Winter resident Ethel Kennedy, a human rights activist and the widow of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, trailed just behind the front of the marchers in a wheelchair, accompanied by family members.

The scene was back to normal by about 4 p.m. on Worth Avenue. Catherine Louis, owner of Bibi’s Boutique, estimated most of the protesters passed her by in about 10 minutes.

A manager at another store at the time, Louis remembers when the Ku Klux Klan marched on Worth Avenue in 1990. People on the island expressed much more fear of that march, she said, with some shop owners even talking about taping up windows.

Though Louis said she supports the coalition’s right to free speech and agrees with criticism of Wendy’s, she said her business was hurt by its demonstration on Saturday.

"I actually delivered to two of my clients this morning before coming to work because they did not want to come with the protest, not knowing how it would develop," she said. "We don’t have these very often."

Starting at Howard Park in West Palm Beach, the protesters walked about a mile and crossed the Royal Park Bridge to reach the island. There, T.J. Fisher, a 30-year town resident, welcomed them with a friendly face.

With Chanel and Tiffany & Co. as his backdrop, Gerardo Reyes called out Peltz, who owns property in Palm Beach, for Wendy’s refusal to sign on to the Fair Food Program. McDonald’s, Subway and Burger King are part of the program, according to the coalition.

For years, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers has publicly demanded Wendy’s sign the agreement, but the restaurant has declined for several reasons.

"We take all human rights and labor practices issues seriously and expect the same from our suppliers," Bob Bertini, Wendy’s spokesman, said in a statement on Friday.

If Wendy’s joined the Fair Food Program, the company would pay about a penny per pound directly to the tomato harvesters who work for the suppliers it uses. "These individuals are not Wendy’s employees, and we have not thought it appropriate to pay another company’s workers — just as we do not pay factory workers, truck drivers or maintenance personnel that work for our other suppliers," Bertini said.

Although Wendy’s requires all suppliers and vendors in its U.S. restaurant system to follow a code of conduct, according to the coalition, it has shifted its purchases from Florida tomatoes to those picked in Mexico. And the company’s code of conduct for suppliers is different from the Fair Food Program because it was not developed by the farmworkers themselves.

Lupe Gonzalo, a member of the coalition and farmworker for 16 years, said she witnessed the industry change as a result of the coalition’s efforts to give workers a voice.

"We have shade and access to water," she said in Spanish. "Us women, we don’t have to be denied our dignity in order to work. Us farmworkers can report employer abuses without being fired."